The document describes Canada's Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) program, which uses monitoring of fish and invertebrate communities to assess the environmental impacts of industrial and municipal effluent discharges. The EEM program has detected endocrine disruption in fish downstream of pulp mill effluent discharges through changes such as reduced gonad size. Investigation of Cause studies involving laboratory experiments have linked effects observed in wild fish to levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in certain effluents. The EEM program provides lessons on conducting long-term monitoring to detect impacts, define effect sizes of concern, and trigger further studies to investigate and address significant effects.

1. Environmental Effects Monitoring –
Potential case study for methods to detect endocrine
disruptors in freshwater
Joanne Parrott, Mark McMaster, and Mark Hewitt
Oct 18 & 19 2022
OECD Working Party on Biodiversity, Water and Ecosystems Meeting
“Endocrine disruption in freshwater - From science
and monitoring to effective policy responses”
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-
pollution/environmental-effects-monitoring.html

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EEM started with
• Pulp and Paper effluents 1992 -
• Metal Mining 1995 -
• Municipal wastewater (2003? – slowly
implemented)
• Diamond Mines 2021 –
• Coal Mines (proposed 2022)
• Oil sands mines?? (under development)
Regulated, mandatory, industry-funded, cyclical
monitoring program to answer whether effluents
in compliance with their discharge regulations
have environmental impacts on wild fish and
benthic invertebrates
http://www.ec.gc.ca/esee-eem/
Environmental Effects Monitoring

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Tool to assess the adequacy of effluent regulations
EEM assesses the effects of effluent from industrial or other
sources, on fish, fish habitat, or the human use of the
fisheries resources.
EEM is not just an end-of-pipe measurement, it monitors
local fish populations and invertebrate communities to
determine the effectiveness of environmental protection
measures.
What is Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM)?

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• Objective:
To determine if the effluent is causing an effect on
fish, fish habitat or fish usability (Canadian Fisheries
Act) – as part of the Permit to discharge, companies have to do EEM
• Definition of Effect:
statistically significant difference between
measurements taken from an exposure area and
measurements taken from a reference area for
fish, benthic invertebrates or fish usability
The EEM Program

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Roles and Responsibilities
• Industry:
– prepare and submit to government study designs
prior to field work – using guidance documents
– prepare and submit to government interpretive
reports after field work
• Government
– review report and ensure requirements are met
– update guidance documents as science evolves

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EEM Program Components
• Fish
– adult fish survey
• Fish Habitat
– benthic invertebrate community survey
• Fisheries Resources
– fish tissue and tainting
• Supporting Information sublethal toxicity,
effluent characterization, water quality, sediment
quality

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EEM Program Components
• Fish
– adult fish survey
• Fish Habitat
– benthic invertebrate community survey
• Fisheries Resources
– fish tissue and tainting
• Supporting Information sublethal toxicity,
effluent characterization, water quality, sediment
quality
Measure once per cycle
1 cycle = 3 years
can be measured
more frequently

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EEM Program Components
• Fish
– adult fish survey
• Fish Habitat
– benthic invertebrate community survey
• Fisheries Resources
– fish tissue and tainting
• Supporting Information sublethal toxicity,
effluent characterization, water quality, sediment
quality
Focus here – how this can
detect endocrine disruption

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Fish performance
• How do we measure
performance of fish?
• Basic assumption: Fish that
are growing, reproducing,
surviving and storing energy
at rates comparable to
reference sites are not
impacted

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Core Fish Endpoints
• Age
• Weight-at-age (growth rate)
• Relative gonad size
• Relative liver size
• Condition (weight/length3)
Sample 20 males, 20 females of
2 species of adult fish
Reference site and Exposed site

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Environment Canada 2012 Pulp and Paper Mills in Canada

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reference
10 %
To examine the effects of
industrial effluents on the
environment, the ideal way is to
examine for effects in the
receiving environment
Data from 80+ mills, 2
fish species….how to
combine data to assess
a national pattern?
Across Canada,
65 different fish
species used in EEM

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Meta-analysis and
National Response Patterns
• Statistical procedures used to quantitatively synthesize the
results of a large number of independent studies
• Effect size = exposure mean - reference mean
pooled standard deviation
How to combine all the data
from 80+ pulp mills, to look for
patterns of responses in fish

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-2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0
Effect Size (Hedges’ d)
Mill Group 3
Mill Group 2
Mill Group 1
Meta-analysis Summary Figure
significant increase
significant decrease
Not significant as a group
How to combine all the data
from 80+ pulp mills, to look for
patterns of responses in fish

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Condition
Liver
Gonad
Weight at Age
-0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Effect Size (Hedges’ d)
C3
Age
C2
C3
C3
C3
C3
C2
C2
C2
C2
Cycle 2 & Cycle 3 Fish National Response Patterns
Meta-analysis of 80 mills+30 species
Lowell et al. 2005
Metabolic Disruption
Cycle 2
1996-1999
Cycle 3
2000-2003
Endocrine
disruption –
increased body
growth, BUT
decreased gonad
growth

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Exposed Fish
Wild fish (white sucker) exposed
to effluent have smaller ovaries
Reference Fish

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Reduced testes size in male
whitefish exposed to effluent
Reference Fish Exposed Fish

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How does it work?
How does it work?
Is there an effect?
YES NO
Do two consecutive
surveys show same effect?
NO
Do two consecutive
surveys show no effect?
Monitor every
six years
YES
EEM Program
YES
How much of a change is
important to fish health?...
Confirm results
in 3 years
NO
Critical Effect Size (CES) Triggers
Fish: Was there a ≥ 25% change in relative gonad or liver size
or a 10% change in condition factor (weight/length3)?
Benthos: Was there a ≥ 2 SD change in any endpoint?
Determine magnitude,
extent and possible
causes of effect Investigation of Cause
Investigation of Solutions

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• Results show majority (70%) of mills had
significant effects
• Nationally prevalent effects:
– eutrophication
– reduced gonad size in fish
• Priorities:
– addressing gonad size reduction and
eutrophication
– Investigation of Cause Studies
EEM Pulp & Paper National Assessments:
Prevalent and Prioritized Effects

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Unprecedented Multi-stakeholder Collaborative Effort since 2005,
>20 mills, >$2.0M

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EEM endpoints + biochemical endpoints
Wild Fish
Lab fish lifecycle
(6 months)
EEM endpoints + egg production +
biochemical endpoints
Lab adult fish
(3 weeks)
Egg production + biochemical endpoints
Lab adult fish
(1 week)
Egg production Can Progress
to IOC/IOS
Links Established Between
Field and Lab Results
Kovacs et al., 2007. Water Qual. Res. J. Can. 42: 91-100
Parrott et al., 2010. Water Qual. Res. J. Can. 45:187-200.
van den Heuvel et al., 2010. Water Qual. Res. J. Can. 45:175-186.
Investigation of Cause /Investigation of Solutions
OECD TG 229: Fish Short Term Reproduction Assay

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Lab adult fish (fathead minnow) – one week test -
assess egg production in pulp mill effluents
(shipped to the lab), compare to controls
Similar to OECD TG 229: Fish Short Term Reproduction Assay
But 21-day test shortened to 1 week exposure

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For Kraft pulp mill effluents, threshold level of 20 mg/L
(BOD5) – above this – fathead minnow reproduction is lower
Relationship between fathead minnow egg production
and BOD5 (Biological Oxygen Demand in 5 days)
Martel et al 2017
Exception…
one effluent –
follow-up
showed high
metals
BOD5 = amount dissolved oxygen consumed in 5 d by biological processes breaking down organic matter.

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Similar pattern for thermomechanical pulp
mills, threshold level of 11 mg/L (BOD5)

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EEM - Detected effects downstream of pulp mills
• Metabolic disruption = small gonads, larger livers, larger/fatter fish
• Eutrophication
Investigation of Cause – Advice to mill operators on ways to
reduce BOD in effluent (spill control/reduction, biotreatment
optimization) - reduce impact on fish reproduction
Guidance document to control mill processes – reduce
eutrophication FPAC’s “Best Management Practices Guide for
Nutrient Management in Effluent Treatment”
FPAC = Forest Products Association of Canada
Assessing fish health (growth, gonad size, liver size) – detected
endocrine disruption in fishes downstream of pulp mill effluent
discharges.
Conclusions

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Lessons learned from EEM
• Cyclic monitoring – every 3 years
• All sites measure consistent endpoints in fish, benthic invertebrates
• “Decision tree” of steps – how to progress
• a “difference” = statistically different from reference site
• If see effect or “difference”, must repeat study to confirm effects
following cycle
• CES = Critical effects size = defined changes that we are
concerned about… ± 25 % change in gonad, liver, weight-at-age,
± 10 % for condition (weight/length3)
• Extent/Magnitude studies, Investigation of Cause, Investigation
of Solutions
• If no significant changes confirmed (2 cycles) – drop to less
frequent monitoring (every 6 yrs)
• EEM detects changes in fish caused by many toxic modes of action
– it ALSO detects changes caused by EDCs

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Questions??